LIMERICKS.
[To THE Emma 01 THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—Your review of the Daily Express's Book of Limericks omits to mention the late George Du Maurier's delightful Vera Nonsensigues d rusage des Families Anglaise., in VoL teIL of Punch. Most of us re member the extraordinary ingenuity o o rhymes about le vie= Duo
and the desolate Dido, to say nothing of the parody of Thackeray's " I prithee have ready, my Lucy," &c. But do lot me quote the admirable " Beau Gendarme " :- " Il etait un gendarme h Nanteuil Qui n'avait qu'une dent et qu'un coil ; Mais cot coil solitaire Etait plein de mystere ; Cette dent, d'importance et d'orguoil."
The metrical feat here performed by the bilingual humorist was no mean one. It consisted in making the French phrasal accents fall approxi. mately where the English word-accents would occur in an English Limerick. It must be admitted that, to obtain this metrical effect, Du Maurier's Limericks must be read so as to produce a caesura or pause after each third syllable, which is easier, perhaps, for a master of the French of Stratford-atte-Bowe than for a Frenchman accustomed to orthodox metres. I have known Frenchmen to deny that Du Maurier's
Limericks could be made to scan by any one but an Englishman, and that then the result was singularly cacophonous to a French ear. But we must remember that our gallant Allies, quite rightly, resent any profane tampering with the conventions, rhythmical and other, of their beautiful language. Du Maurier had the singular privilege, as belonging to both, of being able to laugh at Frenchmen and Englishmen alike, since he understood and loved both. The only contemporary humorist I think, who in some measure shares this faculty of poking affectionate fun at the foible`of both nations is M. Pierre Mille in some of his articles in the Temps. An entente strong enough to stand the test of happy laughter is strong indeed, and may well endure when the compulsion of common danger and common effort is followed by the infinite relief and joy of
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